Mat (region)

Historical linguistic considerations suggest that Mat and the surrounding regions, including Mirdita, have been among the oldest settlements of the Albanians after their ethnogenesis, which is considered to have been completed between the 2nd and the 5th–6th centuries AD.

In an act of Robert, King of Naples, Tanusio Thopia was mentioned as Count of Mat (conte di Matia) in 1338,[9] a title which would also be held by his successors.

Mati is also regarded as one of the tribes of Albania, however not in the sense of a fis, with blood ties and a common history and single male ancestor.

The basin of the Mat river consists of rolling hills surrounded by mountains that have long protected the inhabitants.

[11] Mat has been inhabited since at least the Bronze Age, but no urban areas had developed there until the modest town of Burrel in the mid-20th century.